Fig. 1

Toxicity of surface-coated gold NPs. SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells were incubated (24 h) alone (negative control) or in the presence of 100 pM (closed bars) or 200 pM (open bars) NPs. a Treatment with 18 nm NPs coated with citrate, CTAB, PAA, or PAH. b Treatment with 8 nm, 18 nm, or 40 nm NPs coated with PAA. Treatment with 2% Triton-X (Tr-X) served as a positive control. Cellular viability was assessed using XTT reduction. Results are shown as the percentage of viable cells relative to the negative control and represent the mean of 2–3 independent experiments, performed with 6 replicates. Error bars represent SEM. *p < 0.001 vs. negative control